The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Ibadan zonal office, has arrested three persons for allegedly duping the Otun-Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Lekan Balogun. The suspects – Babatunde Ologunja, Olusola Olaoye Babatunde and Olufemi Lawal – and others still at large were accused of conspiring to dispossess the Ibadan high chief of sums running to about N300m.
Balogun, who is next to the Olubadan in the Olubadan-in-Council hierarchy, was a senator representing Oyo South Senatorial District on the platform of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) in National Assembly between 1999 and 2003.
His younger brother, Dr Kola Balogun, a current senator, had written a petition to the EFCC as a ‘concerned member of the Aliwo family’, seeking the commission’s intervention in smashing the syndicate and ensuring that members paid for their alleged crimes.
The younger Balogun feared that the high chief may have been charmed by the suspected fraudsters as he was still unable to come to terms with the reality of his situation.
“This request became necessary because we believe strongly that the victim has been hypnotized; he is not in a position to admit it and his health condition is deteriorating,” the senator stated in the petition.
According to the anti-graft agency’s acting spokesman, Tony Orilade, preliminary investigations revealed that for the past four years, the suspects have consistently collected various sums of money from the high chief.
The sums, according to findings, were not attached to any particular project and no receipts were issued to indicate the existence of any genuine transactions between the parties.
As the time of their arrest, the syndicate had allegedly received about N300 million through bank transfers from their victim. Orilade said the commission has designated for possible forfeiture four vehicles and six landed properties traced to their alleged fraudulent activities. He added that the EFCC was still on the trail of their fugitive partners.